


The Jedi Schism

by TheKingInTheMountain



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Anakin Skywalker Leaves the Jedi Order (Sort of), Anakin Skywalker is the Chosen One, Awesome Padmé Amidala, BAMF Anakin Skywalker, BAMF Obi-Wan Kenobi, BAMF Padmé Amidala, Eventual Happy Ending, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fix-It, Force Ghost Qui-Gon Jinn, Manipulative Sheev Palpatine, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29194623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKingInTheMountain/pseuds/TheKingInTheMountain
Summary: OR: What happens when Padmé goes into labor early, throws a wrench into Palpatine's plans, and everything changes forever.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Past Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze - Relationship
Comments: 10
Kudos: 121





	1. Point of Departure

**Author's Note:**

> Two roads diverged in a Dark Wood,  
> And sorry I could not travel both  
> And be one Skywalker, long I stood  
> And looked down one as far as I could  
> To where it bent in the undergrowth....

"Is it possible to learn this power?"

"Not from a Jedi...."

Anakin Skywalker's head spun with this newfound revelation. Could this hidden knowledge be found in the Jedi Archives, now locked out of his reach by the Council's arrogant dismissal of his powers? If the Chancellor knew these stories of those capable of stopping people from dying, then the Jedi would have to! What else was hiding in place sight from him? What else were the Jedi hiding from him? Did they already know about his marriage? Were they trying to allow Padmé to die, so that he would have no 'attachments?' The inner questions, from a voice that was both his own - and not his own, caused his heart to burn like a furnace.

He became aware of the Chancellor speaking, making some idle comment about the events on the stage before them, but he couldn't offer anything except a nod and a murmuring acknowledgement towards his closest friend. His thoughts, his whole being, was burning with an intensity to discover what was being withheld from him. The Chancellor wasn't Force-Sensitive, so how could he help him, except to point him down the right road?

But, after all, hadn't he done exactly that? 

All that was left for him to do was to leave the Opera, make haste to the Jedi Temple, and try every trick in the book to get into the Archives. Yes...that would be the answer. Even if the Jedi didn't have the answers, like the Chancellor said, then there would surely be something, something to point him towards the right answers. But something left a sour taste in his mouth...

The Chancellor said the tale was about a man named 'Darth Plagueis,' hadn't he? That meant it was a legend of a Sith Lord. Did that mean that only the Sith - the Dark Side - held the answers he needed? No...that couldn't be possible. The Sith were evil, the ones responsible for the awful war that was killing billions every standard day. But, yet, hadn't the Chancellor himself proved that good and evil were simply points of view?

His head hurt, and the room spun around him. Anakin felt sick to his stomach, wanting to retch over the balcony. It seemed like his whole world was being turned upside down. Could the Sith be right, and the Jedi be wrong? Could turning to the Dark Side, and forsaking everything he stood for, be the only way to save Padmé's life? He didn't want to think about that, but the thought kept rearing his head every time he tried to refocus in the present.

And, what was that Force-awful chill that he felt in his spine? Why hadn't he felt this before? Anakin wrapped his arms around himself, as if bracing for a great gust of wind on a tundra planet. It was as if the whole Opera House had dropped ten degrees in an instant, and he looked around with frantic eyes trying to find the source. He had felt this before...in the presence of a Sith Lord. Was the Sith Lord this close? Could he be the one that was trying to cloud his thoughts?

Suddenly, he felt a vibration in his tunic pocket. The communicator that was the direct one-way link to Padmé was buzzing incessantly in his pocket. On instinct, he reached down and silenced it, biting his lower lip and looking through the corner of his eye to see if the Chancellor had noticed the interruption. If he had, he didn't show it.

What could Padmé want? He had told her that he would be busy all night. The glimmer of the fire of insolence died with the realization that it might be an emergency. She would've only called him now if it was an emergency. Were his dreams coming true? Was he too late? Too late to stop it? 

He turned his head abruptly to the Chancellor, to excuse himself to call Padmé back, when the communicator began to vibrate once more. Anakin felt a little more at ease now, at least he wouldn't have to make a silly excuse, and instead show the communicator to the Chancellor. He pulled the commlink out of his pocket and rose to his feet, putting on a face of contrition as he looked to the Chancellor.

"My apologies, Chancellor," Anakin bowed, gesturing with the commlink in his mechanical palm, "I have to take this."

"You know, if you didn't like the show, my boy, you could've just said so," the Chancellor flashed a wry grin, and then dismissed Anakin with a jovial look and wave of his hand, "all is forgiven, Anakin. I trust we will continue our talk tomorrow?"

"Of course, Chancellor," Anakin bowed again, mostly out of habit, "now, if you excuse me..." Anakin made his exit quickly, dipping into the mostly empty ring-hallway outside of the booth, searching as he walked with haste for a discreet location. Ducking behind one of the pillars, he finally answered the commlink - now on its third consecutive call - and rose it up to his mouth, "Padmé, what is it?"

_"Anakin?"_ A woman's voice. One of her handmaidens. Was it Sabé? Or Dormé? They all sounded the same to him, and he was in no emotional state at the moment to discern them, _"Anakin, we've been trying to reach you for ten minutes. What have you-? Nevermind, it's not important. You need to get to the Senate Hospital as soon as you can. It's Padmé."_

His heart dropped through the floor. It shot right through the thousands of levels of Coruscant and right into the planet's core, and popped right back out into open space. Not now! He wasn't ready! He hadn't figured it out yet! It was too soon! "Is...is she safe?" He spoke, finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, "is she alright?"

_"She's fine, Anakin, just get to the Hospital,"_ for such a medical emergency, Anakin thought with a sneer, the Handmaiden seemed utterly untroubled by it, _"that is, if you want to meet your child. Padmé is in labor."_

A torrent of emotions overtook the young Skywalker as he shoved the commlink into his pocket, running on autopilot through the Opera House. He felt anxiety and fear and the gnawing at his nerve as he bounded down the red steps towards the parking lot. He felt joyful impatience and radiating love as he reached out through the Force to feel the boundless Light of his child, now soon to be part of the universe. He felt the desire, the need, to throw himself into his Eta-2 starfighter and punch it at full speed, breaking every traffic law in Coruscant, as he sped towards the Senate Hospital.

And a voice, a familiar voice, a voice he hadn't heard in over ten years, whispered into his ear, overpowering every emotion now surging through his body:

**"Everything will be alright, Ani."**


	2. Sleepless Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deep into that darkness peering,   
> long I stood there wondering,   
> fearing...

It was another sleepless night for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Two days of non-stop fighting in the Outer Rim, followed by a high-octane rescue mission in orbit of Coruscant, still left their mark in the frayed nerves and adrenaline coursing through the Jedi's veins. And to top it all off, the disturbing events of the previous day left him tossing and turning in his spartan-like quarters. The Chancellor's machinations against the Council, the Council's machinations against the Chancellor...and Anakin caught in the middle. It was times like this that made him resent his lofty position.

He would trade it all away if he thought it would do any good. But there had to be a voice of reason, he rationalized, and with the Council stacked heavily against Anakin, there was no one else but him. They still harbored the distrustful attitudes from when he was but a young boy, newly-liberated, standing before them as they scrutinized him with judging eyes.

Obi-Wan knew that well, since he was one of those judging eyes. He trusted the words of the Council, thought that the boy was dangerous, and that he ought not to be trained. But Qui-Gon persisted, defied them openly, and said that he would train Anakin regardless. A pang of remorse and long-held sadness struck his heart as the thoughts of his former Master entered his mind, remembering their last conversation in that forsaken reactor at Naboo.

A bittersweet smile fell upon the Jedi Master's face as he crossed through the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It had taken a decade and some change for him to grasp the final teaching of his former Master, that the Jedi Council was not infallible, and that they were as blinded by the Darkness as the rest of the Jedi Order. And with that thought, he forgot how clouded it was here on Coruscant. It was like a cold, thick comforter was smothering him in the Force, being wrapped around him some unseen body. He felt like he was drowning in the Dark.

Not even the Outer Rim Sieges were this bleak in the Force, and he had been on dozens of worlds reduced to nothing but ash and cinder by the Grand Army of the Republic and the Separatist Droid Armies. 

But with a shudder, he realized the implications of that thought. If the Darkness festering on Coruscant was already affecting him, the how badly was it affecting the Council who - with the rare exceptions of emergency front-line duty - were there full time? Had they grown so complacent that the Darkness was simply a fact of life? That the cold air pervading every inch of every room of every building had become...normal? Or, were they simply ignorant of it, grown complacent in their tower that soared high above Coruscant's lowest depths?

Neither answer seemed palatable for the Negotiator, who had seen ten thousand worlds burn underfoot of marching Battle Droids and Clone Armies.

As he moved towards his preferred meditation spot, right underneath the shade of an eternally-blossoming flower tree, he felt the vibration of a commlink in his pocket. His eyebrow arched, curiosity growing within him. Who could possibly want him at this hour?

Of course, he knew the answer. It could only be Anakin. 

Reaching into the pocket, he pulled out the commlink and answered the call, and before he could even get a word in, his former padawan's voice - frantic and full of anxious energy - roared through the speakers, " _Master! Master! I need you to come down to the...where are we? Oh, I'm a little bit near Dex's! You have to come quick! The Coruscant Guard pulled me over and I need to get to the Senate Hospital and they won't let me leave without someone coming to pick me up and I need to get to the Hospital right now! You don't understand! I need to go! They won't let me go and I need to go! Master, I need your help!_ "

"Slow down, Anakin," Obi-Wan's infinite patience for Anakin was extended one more time, a time out of ten million, "take a deep breath, and explain to me what's going on."

He heard a sharp inhale, and then an exhale, and Anakin began to speak, " _Padmé's in labor! And if I don't get to her right now, she's going to die! I've seen it, Master! In my dreams! Visions! It's going to come true unless I'm there to stop it!_ " 

Oh.

Well, so much for feigning ignorance.

What troubled Obi-Wan the most, in those few seconds between Anakin's words and his response was not the 'revelation' of Anakin's illicit relationship with the Senator of the Naboo - that was the worst kept secret in the Republic - but rather it was his talk of dreams and visions. The last time Anakin had confided in him about such things, he had ignored it - told Anakin to ignore it - and then...

Not again.

"I'll be there right away. Send me your exact coordinates," Obi-Wan spoke sternly, shaking off the memories of those days just before and right after the outbreak of the dreadful War, "don't go anywhere or do anything, Anakin. I'm coming."

And where there was once anxiety, fear, dread, and foreboding coursing through their Force Bond, he could feel a small sense of surprise, relief, and weight shifting from Anakin's shoulders, " _thank you, Master. I-...well, I don't know how to thank you...I didn't..._ "

"Just stay calm, and stay there..." Obi-Wan said, as he rushed through the desolate Temple halls, making his way towards the parking lot where he'd find one of the Order's speeders, "send me your location now. I'm on my way," and then he hung up, because Anakin - true his nature - would probably stay on the line until Obi-Wan was right in front of him. He began to bound down the steps of the rear entrance of the Temple, ignoring the Padawan-on-Duty's inquiry of where Master Kenobi was going at such an hour.

The commlink buzzed with coordinates. Ah, yes, he knew where that was. Close to the illegal racing circuit near the lower levels, if he remembered correctly. How many times had he had to pick up Ana-

No, not the time for reminiscing. 

He hopped into the speeder and floored it, carefully obeying the traffic laws where he could while still pushing the speeder to its absolute limits. Thankfully, traffic had died down somewhat, and he was able to weave in and around the slow-moving freight transports with the same ease as careening around Separatist battleships and their hive of vulture droids. He would reach Anakin, and he would help him this time.

He had ignored him once, and he wouldn't do it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, we're building up to the action here!


	3. Vergence in the Force

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the Force said,  
> "Let there be Light," and there was Light.  
> and the Force saw the Light, and it was good....

Anakin paced back and forth on the traffic stop platform, looking out onto the endless lights and skyscrapers of Coruscant. His long dark cape fluttered in the evening wind, as he ran his hands through his hair, twirling the locks in his fingers with a nervous habit as he awaited Obi-Wan's arrival. Every five seconds, which ticked by like centuries, he checked his chrono and looked wistfully into the traffic, hoping to see one of the Jedi Order's red speeders fly out of the night sky and towards the platform.

"Can't you just get let me go? Every second I'm waiting here is less time I have to..." He cut himself off as he turned towards one of the red-pattered Clones of the Coruscant Guard. It wouldn't do him any good to reveal the secret he spent three years hiding from everyone. Even Ahsoka and Obi-Wan and his own in-laws didn't know, and if he told these Clones, well...he knew how fast rumors spread in the Grand Army...

"I'm sorry, sir..." The Clone - his name was Firefly, that much he had told him - shrugged his shoulders. The rest of his team were standing, still helmeted, around the repurposed LAAT Gunship with Coruscant Guard markings, "you know the rules. If Commander Fox knew I was letting you go without a ticket, let alone letting your astromech fly your ship to your destination..." Firefly trailed off, then resolved himself as he stood up a little straighter, "you've done good by my brothers, General Skywalker, but I can only let so much slide."

Yes, Anakin understood. Any other circumstances, he would be having a laugh with the Clone and sharing all kinds of war stories about his time with the 501st Legion. He'd be sharing some anecdote about Rex that would tear itself through the Grand Army like a firestorm, smiling and laughing and sharing the Clone's discontent with serving as an overglorified police officer in the quietest assignment in the Republic.

But not tonight. Tonight his patience was at its limits and he could feel his very soul becoming undone with each second he was away from Padmé. He surprised himself with being able to convey the message to Obi-Wan without coming apart at the seams, and there was a part of him - the part of him that was still that young boy from Tatooine, freshly inducted in the Order - that told him that everything would be okay.

 _Once Obi-Wan got here,_ the young boy inside himself told him, _everything would sort itself out. Master Obi-Wan always knew what to do. He was smarter, he was wiser, and he was able to keep it cool when the heat was turned up._

But another voice hissed and roared from inside his heart. It told him that Obi-Wan didn't have the power to stop Padmé from dying. It roared with a breath of fire that no one could stop her from the inevitable fate except his own power. _**Do whatever it takes**_ , it screamed and bucked and tore apart his nerves and his soul in a wild rush of foreign - yet all too familiar - energy, _**and do not stop and show no mercy until she is safe in your arms and the vision is proven untrue.**_

He sat down on the tarmac, running his hands through his wild hair. His fingers dug into his scalp and he wanted to rip out his hair, he wanted to cry out into the heavens and beg for mercy from the Force. He wished that he wasn't the Chosen One, that there wasn't a terrible Civil War that had killed trillions and would kill trillions more if he wasn't strong enough stop it, that he was powerful enough to stop everyone - from the shiniest Clone to his own Mother - from dying. He wished that he could reach for the Force and pull all of the lost souls out of the Netherworld and restore them to life.

But all that came out, instead of a roar of power and a rush of energy, was a choked whimper and tears long held back as a dam exploded in his mind. Tears that had been forbidden, that he longed to cry as he watched worlds burn, that had threatened to break the stoic image of the Hero With No Fear when he watched his men - _HIS MEN _\- be carried off to shallow graves on ten thousand worlds. Tears that he hid from Padmé, so that she wouldn't think that he was weak and unable to protect her. Tears that were swallowed in Obi-Wan's presence, so he could show his old Master that he was a true Jedi. Tears that were held back from Ahsoka, that were pushed deep into his soul even when she walked away from him and abandoned him and left him behind.

Oh, Force, Obi-Wan is going to be very upset indeed....

And as if on cue, summoned by the very thoughts of his old Master, he felt Obi-Wan's presence draw close. He felt him before he saw him, and he felt the determination, the resolve, the 'stay-calm-Anakin-I'm-almost-there' coursing through their Force Bond. And Anakin's heart soared as he saw the Jedi Order's speeder flipping in and out of traffic, and he forced a smile to his face. He recognized that style of reckless flying. Just as a Master teaches his Padawan, a Padawan can teach his Master...

The speeder flew out of traffic and came to a sudden and lurching stop on the traffic platform, with Obi-Wan sitting coolly in the driver's seat. As if it wasn't the middle of the night and as if Anakin wasn't in the middle of a hold-up by the Coruscant Guard and as if Anakin hadn't basically confessed to an illicit relationship with Padmé and-

"Is he free to go?" Obi-Wan said, very simply. His voice was calm, cool, collected, but Anakin felt a touch of anxious energy in the Force surrounding his Master. He was in a hurry, and he wanted to get this moving along.

"General Kenobi, sir," Firefly popped to and offered a salute to the High General of the Grand Army, "General Skywalker is free to leave under your charge, sir."

"Thank you, Trooper," Obi-Wan tipped his head in acknowledgement, and gestured for Anakin to hop into the speeder, "oh, and, by the way..." he said as Anakin jumped into the passenger seat, "is there any chance that you could...forget this ever happened?"

"Of course, sir," Firefly nodded, and Anakin felt amusement and understanding around the Clone, "this never happened. Just don't let it happen again."

And with that, Obi-Wan floored it and sped off of the platform, dipping into traffic and speeding as fast as he could - Anakin never saw him fly so fast before - towards the Senate Hospital, "Master..." Anakin broke the silence as they flew onward, "there's...there's a lot I need to tell you."

It was time he told the truth. He had been living a lie for three years. He wasn't the Hero With No Fear. He wasn't the greatest Jedi of the generation. He wasn't the Chosen One.

He was a liar. He had undermined the Jedi Code for three years. He loved, and he loved freely, and he loved openly and he loved in the dark and he loved and he loved and he loved. He loved Padmé with everything. And he wasn't ashamed of it, and he couldn't hide it anymore. He wouldn't lie anymore. He had to tell him.

He had to.

"Anakin, if this is about Senator Amidala..." Obi-Wan spoke through gritted teeth as he swerved to avoid an oncoming taxi speeder, and then swore under his breath in Mando'a that Anakin didn't even know he knew, "I assure you..." he threw the sticks down, diving underneath a freight transport, causing Anakin's heart to jump at the unexpected nature of Obi-Wan's flying, "...that you are not as subtle as you think you are."

"Wait, what?" Anakin's eyebrows shot up. This surprise was almost - almost - as shocking as Padmé going to labor. Had he misread Obi-Wan so much? And then he remembered. That Duchess from Mandalore....and he almost hit himself. He had constructed his idea of Obi-Wan being the epitome of the Jedi Master, the strict adherent to the Jedi Code, that he forgot - or purposely denied - everything that contradicted that, "you're...you're not mad?"

"No, Anakin, I'm not. I am..." and then a speeder flew out of a hangar and nearly clipped their own, causing Obi-Wan to swear again and Anakin wished that he spoke more than small phrases in Mando'a so he could understand his Master, "...we will discuss it later. But, so that I may understand the situation..." he flew back upwards, and Anakin could see the Senate Hospital looming in the distance, "...you are the father, aren't you?"

Well, the ultimate question. Anakin knew it was coming.

"Yes, I am."

Force, that felt like the weight of ten boulders had shifted from his chest.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," Obi-Wan seemed really...casual about it, and that made Anakin all the more confused, "what concerns me more, Anakin, are these visions."

"I...." and here it was. He could see them flashing in his mind. Padmé crying out, screaming, her life passing out of her as she pushed for the children. Her screams of agony pierced into her mind, "I see her dying...she's in pain...incredible pain..." Anakin felt a sudden surge in Obi-Wan, like when he usually wanted to make a fresh and smart comment, but then he felt his Master tamper it down, and so he continued, "...and I see you there...and I'm not there...and I don't know what's going on."

"Well, we're here now," Obi-Wan commented in his typical fashion, as the speeder flew straight towards the closest parking lot, guiding the speeder to the spot right next to Anakin's starfighter. They soared right into the spot, and Anakin was the first to leap up, hitting the ground before Obi-Wan could even turn the engine off. Hot on his heels was R2D2, squealing and beeping.

 _/What's going on, Ani? I hate it when you keep me in the dark,/_ his astromech beeped indignantly, as Obi-Wan picked up the rear.

"Padmé's in labor, Artoo," Anakin explained as the trio rushed into the hospital's main entrance, "and I need to get to her."

 _/And I suppose I'm here to record the event, yes?/_ Artoo chuckled to himself, but Anakin was not in the mood for returning the joke. Instead, he pushed his way through a small throng of people, right up the front desk.

"Where is Senator Amidala?" He demanded, looking fiercely into the Rodian at the front desk.

"Master Jedi! We were't told to expect..." suddenly the Rodian stopped herself, "I'm sorry, Master Jedi, but the Senator is not accepting any visitors who are not family."

"I am her husband, and by the Force you're going to let me in there!" Anakin hissed venomously, slammed his mechanical fist on the desk, causing hairline cracks that spread across its surface.

"Anakin..." Obi-Wan whispered dismissively, as he pushed his way to stand beside him. He rose his hand up to the Rodian, and passed it across her face, "you will tell us where Senator Amidala is."

"I will tell you where Senator Amidala is," the Rodian replied, her voice blank and expressionless, "she is on the third floor. Room 302."

"You will forget everything we told you here tonight," Obi-Wan passed his hand across her again.

"I will forget everything you told me here tonight."

And so the two Jedi and their astromech bounded through the halls, rushing towards the turbolift. Anakin practically rushed in, pushing past everyone in his way, and pressed the third floor button at least twenty times before the doors closed and it shot upward.

"Anakin, you must have patience," And there was that cheekiness again. How could he be sassy at a time like this? Didn't he know it was life or death? That Padmé could die? "After all, you're going to be a father soon."

And suddenly, he felt at ease. Had Obi-Wan pulsed something through their Bond? It seemed like he did, but Anakin didn't care. He felt focused, and with the focus, he reached out through the Force and felt Padmé. She was in pain. In agony. And his heart bottomed out. But there was still the muted signature of Light from his child.

And he set off like lightning, rushing towards his wife, and before he even rounded the corner towards her room, he suddenly felt it.

A pulse of light. Like ten-thousand suns being transported into the Force right before him. Like a vergence in the Force. And then he felt relief. 

And then he felt the agony again.


End file.
